The Bi-Partisan committee on 9/11 report is out

The Bi-partisan full report was made public today, 22 July 2004, at 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.  The report could prove to be very damaging for George Bush who is running for reelection. 

The report, while stopping just short of assigning blame, did state that neither Clinton nor Bush made anti-terrorism a top priority.  This reporter had previously written that a 1998 CIA document informed Clinton that an attack was in the making.  That same report was made known to Bush before the attack, and that the field reports from the FBI were ignored.

The Bi-partisan report follows the House and Senate investigations on the intelligence failures and debunks Bush's claims for the need to attack Iraq. 

Initially, Bush fought against the forming of the committee. Bush was completely opposed to the release of a number of documents, and fought heavily against national security advisor Condoleezza Rice being required to testify under oath. 

House speaker Dennis Hastert stated that he didn't think congress would make any sweeping changes in security this year. (Authors note: will not make any changes this year even though it is in our best interests in national security?)

Thomas Kean, the Republican chairman, is quoted as saying "Every expert with whom we spoke told us an attack of even greater magnitude is now possible and even probable".  Kean also added "We do not have the luxury of time."

The 567-page document also cites a sloppy series of missed opportunities by the CIA and the FBI to uncover the Sept. 11 tragedy, in spite of the prior warnings. Airport security is also faulted.

The committee findings seem to support Michael Moore's findings – we knew, we did nothing.

Michael Berglin